Improvements in machinery and technology have drastically changed agricultural practices. As machinery and technology has improved, this has allowed farmers to grow the size of their operations. As the number of acres a farmer must plant, fertilize, spray and harvest increases, so must grow the size and capacity of the farmer's agricultural implements. The term “agricultural implement” and/or “agricultural machinery” used herein generically describes any farming device such as a planters, tractors, sprayers, cultivators, combines, harvesters, spreader, wagons, truck, or any other vehicle or implement or attachment to any of these devices of any kind that travels across farm ground and causes compaction.
While the improvements in technology, and the increased size of agricultural implements has allowed farmers to operate more and more land, the increasing size of agricultural implements has its disadvantages. Namely, as the size and capacity of agricultural implements increases, so does the weight of the agricultural implements. As the weight of the agricultural implement increases, so increases the amount of compaction caused by the wheels supporting the agricultural implement as it drives through the field. The more compacted the soil becomes, the less farmer's crops yield because compaction prevents plants roots from dispersing through the soil.
This phenomenon is especially apparent with planters. The size of planters has grown substantially over time, from only a couple of rows, to some as large as 48 rows. Not only has the size of the planters substantially increased, but the seed carrying capacity has also substantially increased. While this arrangement allows a farmer to plant a huge amount of land in an extremely efficient manner, the increased weight of the planter plus the large amount of seed it is carrying, causes severe compaction in the field. This compaction comes at an extremely vulnerable time for the crop as the seed has just been planted and must quickly germinate, root, and penetrate the soil otherwise it will perish.
Solutions to this problem have been elusive. A common solution for compaction has traditionally been to till or rip the compacted ground. However, deep tillage or ripping of the soil has traditionally required a tremendous amount of horsepower and/or torque. With the use of modern planters that are large and heavy, the pulling tractor is already taxed to the point where adding features that cause large amounts of additional drag on the planters is extremely undesirable. Furthermore, because in the case of a planter, the seed has just been planted, care must be taken to reduce compaction while not disturbing the placement of the seed, which many forms of traditional tillage may do.
Another solution to the problem of compaction has been to add additional wheels to the agricultural implement to disperse the compaction over a greater area. While adding more wheels resolves some of the compaction, it is extremely expensive and complicated to add additional weight bearing wheels to already complex equipment. In addition, adding wheels causes additional compaction in other areas. As such, the addition of more wheels is no solution at all and in-fact can cause further problems, and can reduce the farmer's yield more than the conventional arrangement where the ground under the implement's wheels is essentially sacrificed.
Another attempted solution to the problem of compaction has been to add tracks to the implement. While tracks effectively spread the weight of the tractor and planter over more area, which reduces compaction it comes at the cost of maneuverability. In addition, transporting machinery with tracks versus wheels, travel speed need to be reduced to avoid excessive vibration and extensive wear. Tracks also have a tendency to greatly disturb and damage the field when the implement is turned at the end rows of the field because the tracks tear or berm the soil. As such, what is often gained from a compaction standpoint is often lost in maneuverability and damage to the field standpoint.
Therefore, for the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, and the drawings, there is a need in the art for a tillage device for agricultural machinery or implements to reduce compaction.
Thus, it is a primary object of the invention to provide a tillage device for agricultural machinery or implements that reduces compaction caused by wheels in a field.
Another object of the invention to provide a tillage device for agricultural machinery or implements that reduces compaction that is easy to use.
Yet another object of the invention to provide a tillage device for agricultural machinery or implements that reduces compaction that is can easily be installed on conventional and existing agricultural implements.
Another object of the invention to provide a tillage device for agricultural machinery or implements that reduces compaction that does not substantially interfere with the use or operation of the agricultural machinery or implements.
Yet another object of the invention to provide a tillage device for agricultural machinery or implements that reduces compaction that is robust.
Another object of the invention to provide a tillage device for agricultural machinery or implements that reduces compaction that is simple.
Yet another object of the invention to provide a tillage device for agricultural machinery or implements that reduces compaction that does not greatly increase the amount of drag placed on the agricultural implement or greatly increase the amount of torque or horsepower required to operate the agricultural implement.
Another object of the invention to provide a tillage device for agricultural machinery or implements that reduces compaction that has a simple and intuitive design.
Yet another object of the invention to provide a tillage device for agricultural machinery or implements that reduces compaction that is relatively inexpensive.
Another object of the invention to provide a tillage device for agricultural machinery or implements that reduces compaction that improves plant yield and health.
Yet another object of the invention to provide a tillage device for agricultural machinery or implements that reduces compaction that has a long useful life.
Another object of the invention to provide a tillage device for agricultural machinery or implements that reduces compaction that has a short pay-back period.
Yet another object of the invention to provide a tillage device for agricultural machinery or implements that reduces compaction that has a minimum number of parts.
Another object of the invention to provide a tillage device for agricultural machinery or implements that reduces compaction that can be precisely controlled.
Yet another object of the invention to provide a tillage device for agricultural machinery or implements that reduces compaction that is that is selectively positional between an operable position and an inoperable position.
Another object of the invention to provide a tillage device for agricultural machinery or implements that reduces compaction that reduces or eliminates the effect of implement weight has on compaction.
Yet another object of the invention to provide a tillage device for agricultural machinery or implements that reduces compaction that is a one-pass solution.
These and other objects, features, or advantages of the invention will become apparent from the specification, drawings and claims.